Willow

Welcome to Willow!

So, here we go, the final term of a wonderful learning journey in year 6. So much to look forward to this term.
Here's to a wonderful final term willow class...let's make it the best one yet and go out on a complete high!

Week 1 Recap

What a top week we have had. It has been so much fun getting back into topic and really enjoying lots of fantastic learning this week, working on our production and doing some great PE...race rounders is becoming a real hit!
The children have become real scientists this week and looked at lots to do with seperating and changing materials! We kicked off the week with experiments all about how to seperate mixtures. It was much more about the children understanding what was happening to the mixtures and solving problems for those that had mixed together to form a solution!
Year 6 really looked at some more indepth vocaubulary relating to what we are doing. We looked at solvent, solute and solution to name but a few! See if your child can remember what they all mean...it did get a bit confusing!
Other learners looked at reversible and irreversible changes with different materials. The children then became the teachers and they paired up and taught their partner everything they had learned, asking lots of questions and getting them to respond well.
We've been doing lots of reheasals this week, the acting is coming along slowly.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YEAR 6 TO LEARN THEIR LINES...UNTIL THIS IS DONE, THEY REALLY CAN'T ACT PROPERLY.

A letter will shortly be coming out regarding costume ideas and what suggestions we can make, there is also a page in your child's script that gives an outline of what they could have.

The learners have had fun making bread this week, relating to our changing materials! Is bread a reversible or irreversible change?
Warburtons came along and showed learners how to knead the bread and then they created their own dough shapes...following this, Friday was our Great Meadows Bake Off/The Apprentice/Masterchef! Children were grouped with year 5 learners who then became little project teams!
In their teams they had to select ingredients to put into their Naan Breads. The team work that year 6 showed with year 5 was outstanding! EVERYONE worked so well in their groups and worked together to create their fabulous product.
The mixture was made, proved (ask your child what 'proving' means?) and then kneaded and rolled into Naan Breads. Finally it was baked in the oven, thanks to Simon and Mr Wichard.

Blind tasting took place where year 3 and 4 were judging our breads...results soon to follow!
Out of all the breads that I tasted (only 5 out of 10 groups were with me), I chose the group that I would 'hire' as star bakers and that was; Liam, Max and Annabelle and Ella from year 5.

Well done on such a brilliant week, it has been incredibly busy, but great fun!

Week 2 Recap

What a crazy week we have had in year 6! Loads has gone on with their learning. Children have continued to work in their apprentice groups to design their packaging! (Final step is to make it and sell it to KS1...watch out for that!)
A lot of our learning is working on speaking and listening through drama. There are some cracks in the play that are beginning to be filled, but still quite a lot of pot-holes that need a lot of work. Our aim is to get most of the acting, lines and volume 'nailed' before we go off to residential so that none of us (me included!) are worrying about it whilst away!
Well done to Daniel, Megan, Amelia, Lauren L, Lily, Izzie & Anderson! These children know ALL of their lines and if not all, MOST of their cues! I'm really pleased with you guys and you need to be recognised! Thankyou to parents at home for their support here.
Any costumes that are ready can be brought in and kept safely in school. Lots more drama next week, it is starting to show really good promise!
We have also done lots of PE this week, with sports day being cancelled, it was a real shame, however we will get the children to take part in their races on a very adhoc 'it's a nice afternoon, let's go and do our races' afternoon. We are very sorry that sports day couldn't go ahead, but atleast year 6 did get one at the beginning of the year.
Next week, science assessments are being carried out along with our sex and relationships education.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, keep practising your lines!

Week 3 Recap

A very busy week in year 6! We have been going full-throttle on rehearsals. There is still a lot of polishing to do at the moment but we are getting there. The whole of key stage 2 had their first run through on Thursday; we didn't quite get through it all, but everyone enjoyed the atmosphere it created! A lovely year 5 came and told me how good she thought the acting was in year 6 - thank you to Hannah!
The children have been very focused in their science assessments this week and we ended with a bit of fun experimenting with coke and mentos (of different flavours!) I will try and upload the video. The mint mentos went a little wrong so we want to re-test and see if we can get it to go any higher! Oliver suggested making a rocket by tightening the lid back on...it's potentially dangerous so we're certainly not doing that in school.
Both the girls and boys were very sensible during our sex education, with good questions and proving terrific knowledge and understanding of how their bodies work. I'm sure that next week, when they all learn together, they will be just as amazing!
We also have had great fun during PE this week, with an incredibly close match in race rounders. With only two in it, both teams were outstanding! Big shout-outs to Liam, Lauren L, Lily and Olivia who are always terrific sports and congratulate people on excellent fielding and striking, what ever their teams or equally, will say acknowledge fantastic efforts amongst their class mates!

Another busy week lies ahead, more literacy, sex education and of course, rehearsals! It is the final week in school before we head off to camp; the children (and myself) are finding it hard to contain our excitement! We are all REALLY looking forward to it and it is frequently the topic of conversation!
Have a lovely weekend year 6, make sure to practice those lines...say it to your mirror before bedtime and then sub-conciously, the lines are whizzing around in your brain whilst you sleep.

Week 4 Recap

Another terrific week of learning with the children this week. We have really been hammering our production so that it is almost ready before we head off to camp. What else can I say other than the children have all had beaming faces this week, most discussions have revolved around residential. The rest of the class have worked tremendously hard at their production and I am happy to say almost EVERYONE has learned their lines! I will be randomly testing them on the coach on the way to residential to see who really knows their lines and their cues.
Many thanks to the parents who have been busy sorting out the costumes for their children, we're keeping them safely in school and they are looking fantastic!!

So, we're off to camp on Monday. Children who are going should arrive in school by 10:20am, they are fine to come in at normal school time. Miss Webb will keep them in the classroom with a movie, whilst they try and 'contain' their excitement. Suitcases to be put in the hall before we head off.

Look out for photos from our residential....we'll try to upload them daily, along with our day by day 'blog'. Scroll down and go to the sub-page: Year 6 Manor Adventure

Have a lovely and SAFE weekend, see you Monday...I am so excited to be going away with you guys! We're going to have a great time.

Week 6 Recap

Well it has been a really good week on return from camp! Children went straight back into rehearsals for the production, most children remembered their lines quickly! It all came back to them which is fabulous. Children have spent a lot of the week relaying their fun times from camp, lots of positive feedback from the children, proving just how much of a brilliant time they all had.
Miss Webb went off to Cadbury Heath on Monday with Sam, Jack and Oliver where they were taught lots of forwarding athletic skills and a new style of rounders, called 'risk rounders' which has proved to be very popular with the rest of the class.
They have also begun doing their final writing piece of the year; their parody stories. We have had some fantastic ideas from them, including the strawberry cream cake man, who is being chased by lots of grannies, eager to eat all the cake! A great take on the parody of the Gingerbread man! Some wonderful humour has gone into their story ideas!
We were happy to have a visit from Miss Brown this week who told us all about her new job (Yay!) and joined in with a game of rounders; we all had lots of fun.
We are all set now for our dress rehearsal on Monday, to be performed in front of Key Stage 1. Everything is slotting into a place! A few last-minute gong overs of scripts are needed...children know if that means them. Many thanks to the parents and helpers who have put a lot of effort into adjusting and making costumes; the children look terrific!
Only 8 more school days left until the children leave us, ready for their summer break before beginning the next chapter of their lives! I personally, am getting really sad that it is coming to an end, but it has been the best year yet for myself thanks to the amazing children!
Have a lovely weekend in this glorious weather, keep drinking lots of water and rest those voice boxes, all set for their production next week!

Week 7 Recap

Year 6, what can I say...the production was AMAZING! You did me so proud and I think you are an incredible class. The acting, solo singing and team work has been fantastic. I love how some of the small errors are the ones that really 'make' a production!
You have coped tremendously well in the heat during that production with some sweltering costumes.
What an amazing production it has been, all of the rehearsing, line practicing and all the bumps along the road has paid off and you should be really proud!
It is going to be VERY difficult to pick a star award from that!
We have also started writing our end of year speeches and they are already really good! Humour in them is fantastic and it really shows your personality as a class.
We have coped in some very hot weather this week and it hasn't been easy, but a good week has been had.
Everyone enjoyed investigating maths problems this morning and looking at our parody stories which are really good.
So that is the last full week here at the Meadows for you all....only 3 school days to go, but lots to look forward to. We are going to have a cricket match Vs Year 5 on Monday morning, along with our leavers lunch and the leavers assembly at 2pm on Tuesday.
Year 6 children and younger siblings can be taken home early, but they must be collected from school AFTER we have walked back from the church.
I can't believe it is all nearly over, what an epic year we have had. Year 6, you're awesome! Good luck in EVERYTHING that you do at secondary school, a part of me wants to rewind and do it all again! I know we are all ready for our summer holidays so enjoy them and best of luck to you all....those secondary schools are VERY lucky to be getting you all!

Week 8 Recap

The final 3 days with year 6 were fantastic! We had a really good last few days together and did some great activities. We kicked off the week with a cricket match against year 5! The year 5s were feeling pretty confident as they had 10 extra players than us! However, in year 6, we had no doubt that we could win this match! The children were fantastic at getting wickets...some top bowling from our children! They caught lots of children out as well which was great. When it came to batting, the children were not afraid to take risks and used their big hits to their advantage. In Kwik-Cricket, each team starts with 200 runs and you add to the score with runs, but get points deducted for every 'out' you get. The final score for year 5 was 189 and for year 6, 356! What an incredible score...well done guys! You smashed it!
We started Tuesday by writing up speeches, I purposely didn't want to read them as I wanted to hear their lovely memories at the service in the afternoon. The writing was all done completely independently. After typing up speeches, we had some free time on the computer and then I presented the children a little video-slideshow I had put together to show their time in year 6 - I think everyone enjoyed watching this!
In the afternoon, we all walked down to the church for our leavers service. The children were brilliant! It is a scary thing to stand up in front of so many people on your own and read out your speech, but everyone did a fantastic job. Lots of parents and children and certainly myself, got a bit teery listening to the children's lovely words. It really is heart-warming to hear them talk about their happy times at primary school and I am sure they will remember these special moments forever. I am personally incredibly humbled by the kindness of the parents and the children after being presented with my flowers, jewellery and memories book during the service! The kind words parents and children said were so special.
So, our final day arrived. The children were so excited to sign everyone's shirts and enjoy each others company. Children spent the morning taking part in our races for sports day. It was fun to watch the children take part in these races. Lots of excellent sprinting and the children were SO helpful setting up races, without even being asked to do so, they jumped right into it!
After lunchtime, the children wanted me to open up all the presents which I did...the cards were the thing that got to me, making me quite tearful! The sweet messages from children and parents were SO nice and I was a bit overwhelmed! I was then asked to read one of the poems by the children to the class so the children, for the last time, sat around me on the carpet! (This was quite sad to see and I believe part of the reason as to why I shed a few tears..) The poem was fantastically written by Josh and I couldn't finish it without crying! Such a soppy silly!
Instead of ending with sad emotions, we ended the day on a complete high with our water fight. Children all embraced the water and completely soaked each other, I believe that I came off the worse! So much for nice children....they completely turned on me! It was a great laugh to watch the children enjoy themselves so much and I am really glad that they got to have a water fight.
What a wonderful year it has been Year 6...being my first ever class, you are SO special to me and I really hope you all carry on learning and achieving as much as you have at The Meadows and that your personalities forever shine! I will miss you all so much and do pop back and say hello and tell me how you're doing as I really would love to hear all about it!

On a personal note, I am so thankful for all the wonderful, thoughtful presents and heart-felt cards I have received this week...I love them all and can't express my gratitude enough. Thank you.